UN to join hands with Vietnam in tackling climate change

The United Nations will join hands with Vietnam in tackling climate change, said UN Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson on Wednesday.

Speaking at a meeting with Vietnamese President Tran Dai Quang in Hanoi, the UN official said he would pay a visit to Vietnam's southern Mekong Delta region to witness the impact of drought and saline intrusion on local residents' lives.

After the trip, the UN official will report to the UN in order to bring out more measures, Xinhua news agency reported.

According to Eliasson, Vietnam has been included in the list of countries that need global support to help tackle El Nino impact.

In late April, Vietnam appealed to the international community for a $48.5-million emergency plan to address a worsening El Nino drought, which has affected two million people in the southern and central regions.

A recent joint rapid assessment, undertaken by the Vietnamese government, UN and non-governmental organisations in March, estimated that in the 18 most severely affected provinces in Vietnam, as many as two million people are without access to water and 1.1 million in need of food aid.

--IANS

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